Worldwide down syndrome day

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

World Down Syndrome Day is celebrated on March 21. This was the third worldwide celebration in recognition of those with down syndrome and their families held here in Emery County. The event was celebrated at the Emery County Recreation Center. Tiffany Sorensen welcomed everyone to the event and thanked everyone for coming. There is a website dedicated to World Down Syndrome Day, www.worlddownsyndromeday.org. The website is a good source for information. Lagoon also holds a down syndrome day in August each year. A pizza lunch was provided by BKs. Sorensen invited everyone to reach out and let other families with down syndrome family members know about the organization.
Jessica told about her daughter BerkLee. She is four months old. She was born with down syndrome and has three holes in her heart. She has two puppies. She loves milk. She loves being outside and in her basement. Her favorite toy is her stuffed monkey. She loves the color black. She loves to grab and play with her feet. She hoots like an owl. She likes music. From her third day of life she has slept from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning and that’s great.
Rebecca Marchello introduced her daughter Isabelle Marchello. They are from Price. Izzy is 2 years old. She has 13 grandparents and is spoiled. She has two kittens and two dogs. She loves fish crackers. She likes spaghetti with sauce. She likes licorice, her grandmas and playing outside. She likes music. She loves treats and snacks. She will even share the cat food with the cats. She loves playing in front of the mirror.
Jared Humphrey is from Orangeville and is the son of Jay Mark Humphrey. He has three brothers and one sister and no pets. His favorite food is mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls. He likes root beer. His favorite place to go is his sister Jessica’s house. He likes to golf and swim and eat at Texas Road house. He is kind to everyone. He likes to attend concerts and he has been to Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Shania Twain and Brooks and Dunn. He likes country music and playing the guitar.
Justin Humphery is from Orangeville. He likes to travel and eat. He likes to play music on the keyboard. He loves his nieces and nephews. He likes to eat anything sweet. He likes loud music. He was once able to attend Disney World with the Make a Wish foundation and that was a special experience.
Mandi Bennett is the daughter of Calvin and Tammy Bennett. She lives in Ferron. Her favorite food is Mexican. She likes the state fair, word searches and math books. She likes Shania Twain and country music. She like horses. She likes to sing and dance. She likes to go camping. She likes to watch Emery High sports. She likes BYU. Mandi works at the Castle Valley Center three days a week mowing lawns and pulling weeds.
Jennifer Tuttle is from Orangeville. She has two brothers and two sisters. She loves pancakes. She likes the color pink. Her parents are the late Blaine and Geneva Tuttle. Her favorite foods are pizza and spaghetti. She likes to color, draw, cook and scrapbook. She likes to go out to dinner and to the movies for popcorn, treats and pop. She likes Disney on Ice and Mickey Mouse and the Disney princesses.
Tait Levanger is from Wellington. His favorite food is spaghetti. He likes playing the drums, puppies and dancing. He likes to go exploring in the jeep and listen to classic rock. He is also stubborn. His family will soon be adopting a sister from Eastern Europe. She also has down syndrome. He likes going to Nana’s house. He has two dogs, he enjoys going four wheeler riding. He likes to tumble and recently was able to hold a baby bear.
Austin Hendriks has a new dog. He likes to sing. He likes girls. He goes to the Castle Valley Center. He goes to college in the afternoons. He likes to line dance and go bowling.
Breezy and Brylee Sorensen are from Clawson. They are the daughters of John and Tiffany Sorensen. They have three brothers and one sister. Brylee’s favorite foods are pizza, ice cream and eggs. She likes to dance and play with her dolls. Her favorite thing to do is go to school. Breezy’s favorite foods are pizza, ice cream and yogurt. She likes to dance and play with her dolls. Her favorite thing to do is go to school. The girls have a dog, cats and chickens. They love chicken nuggets. They love to go everywhere. When someone is getting ready to leave the house, they say, “I want to go.” They enjoy their dancing lessons and their Expressions dance studio group won first place at the Carbon Classic. They enjoy sign language, camping and jumping. They love to attend down syndrome day at Lagoon as a family. They love doing everything together and they even had pneumonia together and were in the hospital together. They have competed in the Miss Peach Days Pageant and the Special needs talent show at the fair. They like to go to the park and swing. They love playing outside.
Josh Bennett has one brother Joe and three sisters, Jessy, Jenni and Jackie. He lives in Miller Creek. He has 26 cows. His favorite foods are sloppy joes and pizza. He likes riding horses and four wheeling. His favorite things to do are farming and taking care of cows and horses. Josh has competed in two World Special Olympics and has taken home six medals in the equestrian events. He has also won multiple medals at the Special Olympics. He has cats and dogs. He loves to visit his grandma Rita in Layton. He loves to wear camo. His favorite TV show is Duck Dynasty and he even has his bedroom decorated in Duck Dynasty. He likes Kid Rock and Miranda Lambert and has been known to do the worm dance. He loves being an uncle. He likes the Fast and the Furious movies. He is a fun brother and everyone loves him.
Laurie Kurtz loves top ramen noodles. She likes eggs and toast for breakfast and then the next day it has to be cereal and then rotate back to eggs. She loves the beach and Portland, Ore. She has a dog. She likes the colors pink and purple. She loves to paint and do latch hook rugs. She loves to scrapbook, music and loves to clog. She has done clogging for years for exercise and fun. She has all the Just Dance exercise DVDs and dances all the time. She does color by number books. She lived in Ogden for nine years. She likes to go back and visit friends in Ogden and she likes game day and has fun with her friends up there. She has been able to serve a service mission for special needs children.
Seth Smith is the son of Seth and Terry Smith of Castle Dale. His favorite thing to do is play with kids apps on his moms phone. He has two push button trucks. He likes to video with kids apps. Seth loves to watch people play video games. He takes a lot of selfies. He basically likes to push all of the buttons and look at the lights. He loves to play one, two, three and tickle. Seth loves doing just about anything.
A talent show was open for everyone to perform. Breezy and Brylee performed a dance with their sister Taeya and also another dance number on their own. Austin Hendriks sang a country song and the ladies joined him as dancers.
Tiffany Sorensen thanked everyone for attending the event. She thanked everyone who helped and to BKs for the dinner.
Marnie Levanger said their family is adopting a baby from Eastern Europe International Adoption. The baby has down syndrome and would end up spending her life in an orphanage. So the Levanger’s are working to adopt. They are doing fundraisers to make their dream a reality. They will have a Zumbathon, a concert and have fundraiser pages set-up to fund the adoption. They will accept any donations for this cause.